Thread: admitting defeat with a jig

I mostly fish Mississinewa for crappie and do fairly well with minners. I have tried casting a 1/16 jig under a slip bobber. I have tried vertical jigging and tried casting with a very slow retrieve. I've tried char nibbles and on all presentations and just can't catch them with a jig (except during the spawn). I try these where I've caught crappie 5 minutes earlier with a minnow to no avail. I've tried mainly char/red, char/black and char/wjite tubes. I was there yesterday and brought home 20 with minnows. The water temp was 52. I plan on going back Sunday and would like to catch some FREAKIN crappie on jigs. I'm not setup for spidder riggin so that's out. I have a Lowrance SI and I feel that helps me locate hidden stuff that the average angler dosn't find. Any suggestions on color, depth, weight, presentation would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bart

Don't give up!It's too productive,once you figure it out.You can't go by feel #1.Watch your line where it enters the water when swim jigging.Keep a steady V behind your line if it jumps,goes sideways or slacks set the hook.Use just enough reel speed to make your tails turn.Also use the countdown method starting at the top of the water column.If you've already been catching fish at a certain depth then you know how far down to count.Keep the same amount of bow in your line the whole retrieve,any difference set the hook.The trick to jig fishing is knowing what the feel is when you don't have a fish, anything different set the hook.Also if your vertical jigging w/ a bobber use the smallest bobber you can get by w/.I prefer a Thill neutral buoancy bobbers,the gold metal stealth,you can match those to what size jigs you're using.These are great bobbers for lite bites and fish that are feeding from underneath as most crappies do.There are days when you can catch alot more fish on jigs than live bait.Just the rebaiting slows you down enough to let a school swim on by when they're moving.Scale down your line and possibly the action on your rod ,if you're using lite weight rods go to ultra lite.I use a 6-1/2ft ultra lite w/ 2# test maxima ultra green in open water.In cover (bushes ,standing timber)I use4# stren magnaflex.That's just my preference.Open water I always use the 2# though.Hope that helps a little,don't give up on it though.

i agree dont give up. i do 90% of my crapy fishing with twistertails and roadrunners.

When I use jigs with the plastic skirts like lil hustlers and tubes they always seem to melt in the heat. Sometimes to each other, sometimes to the bottom of my tackle box. The crappie killers would do away with that problem but I'd like to use what is most effective. What is most of your preferences on plastic vs the other materials?

never had a melting problem with the riverside twister tails. they must be made from something different than tubes n stuff? i like plastics when im pitching jigs because they fall slower,because of their bulk. when things get really tough(cold fronts, n such) tiny hair jigs, vertically jigged seem to get more bites. the hair triggers more strikes at rest than plastics,IMO. i would rather switch to bass or cats though when the bite is like that for craps.

Originally Posted by river scum

i agree dont give up. i do 90% of my crapy fishing with twistertails and roadrunners.

Do you cast and slow retrieve these without a bobber?

Lots of good advice above.

Can't say I've ever had my crappie jigs melt together. Have had them react with the paint on leadheads before, or the same on some bass baits if left together. That is a chemical reaction though, not a heat affect. Might that be what is occuring?

No real wrong way to fish a jig. I use one about 100% of the time when crappie fishing. Just adapt the presentation to the conditions at hand. I pitch them under floats as already mentioned - this works well in the spring and around cover like docks or laydowns. Cast and retrieve is my favorite when fishing submerged cover. Tightlining or going vertical in deep water or when in heavy cover or standing timber. Long line troll out in open water for suspendned or scattered fish. They pretty much do it all. Good rule of thumb is lighter weight jigs in shallower water and heavier jigs in deeper water or when going vertical.

Personally, I avoid UL and L setups. I use ML custom graphite rods with fast actions. I believe you get the best feel with this type of setup. I also vary the type of line quite a bit. Fluorocarbon is great for sensitivity or clear water. Braid is good for murkier water, heavy cover or taught line techniques. Mono is sort of all-purpose. I might have all three spooled on during any given trip.

Best advice is to not give up. Keep trying. Try and take a trip with someone who is already a good jig angler to help build confidence and learn techniques if possible. Also check out YouTube for some good videos on how to crappie fish with jigs in different situations.

-T9

I am sure everyone has a program that works for them and you just have to find one that you have confidence in too. I usually take a few minnows to use when trying to locate fish, but I too would much rather catch them on jigs than anything else. I have switched to 10 lb braided line with a piece of florocarbon at the end and a 5 or 5 1/2 ft ultra light pole. The braided line is very sensitive and will save you many jigs as it is strong enough to straighten out gold hooks. I found a bait that works very well on 1/16 and 1/8 oz jigs and it also catchs walleyes and a lot of bass too. They can be found at some of the Dick's Sporting Good stores. Team9 is a very good crappie fisherman so take his suggestions also. If you give them a try I am sure you will start to catch them on jigs.

Thanks for all the input. I'll give it a try Sunday and let you know how I did. I'm affraid with all the rain we had last night and today Mississinewa might look like chocolate milk.

Don't give up on a jig. I fish a jig about 95% of the time. When they are on a good jig bite, you can almost catch fish on every cast. Time and experience is a big key for being successful on a slow bite day. I use a 5'8" ML rod with a good backbone and fast tip with 4-6lb mono line. I use 1/16oz heads with a big hook most of the time. I change up between tubes and southern pro curly tails. if the fish aren't feeding and chasing bait, you must fish around structure to catch fish. You can waste alot of time and (patience) just casting around the shore without bites. I think 80% of crappie are in 20% of the lake. Use your electronics and key on that structure... docks, laydowns, brush, rocks, grass beds and ledges.